Police chief Flanagan could be asked to stay

Ronnie Flanagan’s immediate future as chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland is expected to be decided at a meeting in Belfast today.

Members of the North's policing board are holding talks in a bid to reach agreement over possibly asking Sir Ronnie to extend his tenure beyond the end of the month.

One of those sitting on the 19-strong board, Democratic Unionist MLA Sammy Wilson, insisted a resolution to the issue was urgently needed.

‘‘A decision has to be reached today if we are going to keep Sir Ronnie on,’’ he said.

The chief constable is scheduled to step down from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) at the end of the month.

Although he has indicated his willingness to stay on until a successor is appointed, the controversy surrounding the Omagh bomb atrocity investigation has clouded the issue.

A recruitment drive could take up to six months to complete.

But members of the board, drawn from unionists, nationalists and independents, are split over whether Chief Constable Flanagan should be asked to remain in office during that period.

Some unionists who defended him in the face of fierce criticisms from Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan in her report into the police inquiry into the Omagh bomb want him to stay.

But representatives from the SDLP are understood to be pressing for his departure.

The meeting comes just days after the Chief Constable was appointed as an HM Inspector of Constabulary.

‘‘It may of course resolve itself if Ronnie Flanagan decides he’s got this job and doesn’t want to stay on as chief constable,’’ suggested Mr Wilson.

Advertisements for the vacancy are set to be placed in national newspapers and police magazines across the UK.

But Mr Wilson, an East Belfast Assemblyman, warned this may not be enough to avoid accusations that the board should have acted sooner after the Chief Constable handed in his notice last November.

‘‘We haven’t got very far in the recruitment process,’’ he admitted.

‘‘To have left it nearly two and a half months without even getting advertisements in the papers, questions are going to be asked.’’

With three internal PSNI officers meeting the criteria and heavy interest from outside forces, the DUP MLA insisted every effort should be made to ensure a smooth succession.

He added: ‘‘My view would be that we should keep Sir Ronnie on until we get another appointment so we don’t have a leadership vacuum.’’

Meanwhile, Ulster Unionist board member Lord Kilclooney, the former MP John Taylor, has hit out at chairman Des Rea for inviting the British/Irish Parliamentary Body to meet members next week.

Claiming the body was set up to advance the objectives of the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement detested by unionists, he cautioned: ‘‘If Des Rea uses his position as chairman to involve the Policing Board in party political controversy then let him be warned that a motion of no confidence could arise.’’